First steps
by darich19
Summary: Judith Grimes is just about to take her first step, encouraged by team family, Carl and Michonne but missing one important member - Rick. Will he make it? And will her first steps encourage those in team family to start making choices of their own?
1. The gathering

Judith's first steps:

The soft breeze that rippled through the always seemingly busy but quiet Alexandria Safe Zone was deceiving to say the least, for inside The Grimes' residence there was a room filled of hooting laughter and encouraging words.  
"Come on Little Ass Kicker, you got this. If you can do this, you can ride the bike with me real soon." Daryl squatted, trying to get Judith away from chair to walk towards him.

"It's not going work like that, Daryl," Sasha smirked at him, her usual sunken demeanour forgotten in this one moment. Daryl took note of that and gave her a slight nod to show that he had in fact done so.  
"Sasha's right," Glenn spoke, sitting on the couch with Maggie at his right. "If there's one thing she must have learnt off Michonne, is that you don't have to do anything the way someone tells you to do it, isn't that right Michonne?"

Her smile brightened the room as a laugh left her lips. "Me? Her dad's the culprit in all honesty!"  
Through all the laughter and chatter in the room – accompanied by Abraham and Rosita bickering over why Abraham hadn't gone to speak to Eugene again whilst Eugene cowered in the corner with an urging Tara, Rick could not be found.

Even Carl had found his way here with a girl Michonne was sure he had mentioned , that she had probably dismissed with a slight pessimistic thought of "we don't all get our partners for life".  
Allowing her eyes to settle on the scene made something inside her chest hurt and she wasn't quite sure she wanted to recall what it in fact was.

The door bell rang, for which she excused herself and opened to find Carol.  
"I'm sorry I turned up late, I had to bring cookies!" Carol waltzed in and made everyone's mouth drool. She hovered over Daryl, pretending to be slightly mad at him before taking out a cookie and feeding it to him. "You would have gotten more if you'd offered to pick me up."  
Daryl tried to play off his embarrassment, "You know what they say, something about wolves being in a pack but the leader going off alone... or something like that... Hey guys! Don't look at me like that! I haven't read a book in years, it's not like I've even had time! Saving all your ungrateful asses."

Carol hit him playfully on the head whilst Maggie kicked him from where she was from.  
"Hey!" He joked like he was hurt and looked at Judith. "You see that Ass Kicker, I need you to walk over here and defend me!"  
Judith simply stared at him for a moment, then stuck her tongue out as if to mock him.  
"It seems like she picked her side, eh!" Maggie laughed.

Michonne chuckled to herself as she started to close the door, however, she was interrupted before she could do so.  
Michonne had always believed in the power of nature, that it told humans things before they could actually see it. She was in tune with it she felt. So before she had set eyes on the foot that stopped her from closing the door, she heard the crack of thunder and the heavy set of rain on the pavement.

"Hey! I just couldn't ignore all the hustle and bustle from the house and I was just wondering what was going on! Is it a party? I love parties!" The forcefulness of a happy tone was like high frequency to Michonne's ears.  
"No, not really. It's more of a... family thing." She hadn't meant to use such an excluding term, but once it had fallen off her lips, the warmth that conquered her inside made her sure she was going to hell for relishing in the delight of the effect of it.

"You know, I was looking for Rick anyway." The happy tone was now replaced with a determined one. "He looks like he needs another hair cut." Michonne was tempted to roll her eyes at this woman – you can't try and break the ice you just created,  
"Look, Jessie," Michonne cleared her throat as she heard the room beside her quieten down. "I'm sure your hair cuts are super duper lovely and all, so good that when this whole zombie thing blows over you can create your very own 'Super Cuts!' barber, but right now, we've got a family thing going on." Michonne gave her best smile as she heard footsteps fall behind her.

"Yeah, sorry, I'll make sure Rick gets to you though! Can't have one of the very best constables not responding to their friendly neighbours now, can we?" Maggie's polite tone did nothing to soften the atmosphere, but instead added to the chill.  
With a deep swallow, Jessie swallowed her pride and put on a smile. "Of course! He's such a delight." Her eyes hovered on Michonne for a second longer then she was walking away, getting wetter by the second until she was out of view.

Maggie patted her back and whispered to her, "That is how you handle an unwanted guest. But if it had been at Daddies house he would have given them the old boot and a good old talking to!"  
Her intense laughter bought the whole room back to the atmosphere that had been alive in it before the interruption.  
Now both Carol and Daryl were squatting, attempting to bait Judith with cookies. Whilst Sasha kept repeatedly telling them it's not going to work, with Glenn siding with her and nodding to everything she said. Carl and Enid sat in the corner, looking over a comic with stars in their eyes. Abraham, Eugene, Rosita and Tara sat on the sidelines, wondering which side to pick and which side would win.

Rick was still missing, he had been missing the whole time. It was his idea to throw this thing, in the spur of the moment this morning. When he had seen Judith stand on her own two feet before toppling over right back onto her bottom a second after.  
"Maggie, I'm going to..."  
"Don't worry, I've got it. I think we've all been wondering the same thing."

Michonne smiled at the lack of words needed between them and anyone for a matter of fact within this ground, then started to make her way up the stairs.  
He wasn't in his room, or Carl's or Judith's. She checked the bathroom hastily, worry setting in her bones.  
She felt her heartbeat quicken. He couldn't have slipped out anywhere, so where was he?  
In her frantic motion, opened her bedroom door despite her mind telling her he had not reason to be there, and found him with his back to her sitting on her bed, staring out of the window.

Her heart steadied as her mind preoccupied itself with the best way she could approach him. Even though she could tell there were no tears shed in this moment, she could sense vulnerability radiating off him and although this wasn't new territory, it was something she hadn't ever had to deal with between them before.  
Michonne decided to sit place herself two rulers widths away from him and follow his eyes out of the window.

"You want to tell me why you're not down there?" Her voice resonated in the room for a few seconds before it found him and it took even longer than a few seconds to get a response from him.  
"I thought you would have guessed by now."  
She tasted the words he had just said, let them play on her tongue, let them taste bitter and sweet.  
Outside of the window Michonne watched the sky in it's unsteady emotion. The sun would peak through grey clouds, making the rainbows on the window shine like crystals, creating an atmosphere of serenity only to be interrupted by the sound of thunder like a reminder that all good things end.

"This isn't going to end Rick. I get that all we have seen for a long time are constant reminders that all good things come to an end, but that isn't always the case. Maybe we can be. Here. We can be whatever you want to call it, just know it'll work."  
She had hoped she was getting to him. There was no time for weakness, no time to hurt over old wounds, especially when a good thing had been given to them. There was no time to let the past effect the present, it was too beautiful for that.

"She wanted whatever I want to call it. Lori wanted a family. I couldn't give her that, couldn't give her what we have downstairs, you know?" His eyes were glassy, glazed over and on the verge of tears. Michonne watched as his chest rose fast and fell even faster, her worry about him caused her to act quickly and place a hand over his. She felt the coolness of his wedding ring and cursed at the gentle reminder from the world that this in fact could never be real too, that they could never be what he had just called them: a family.

"Well, I don't know what you believe in Grimes, but since we've both spoken to our significant others from beyond the grave, it wouldn't hurt to believe that they can see what we're doing now. And maybe that their proud." He broke his stare from the window to look at her intensely, the emotion conveyed by his almost knotted eyebrows and slightly frowning mouth causing her heart to stammer.  
Daringly, she ran her thumb over his fingers and cursed at feeling so weak in this new territory.

After the silence had settled between them and she had moved her eyes back to the window in fear they would tell him everything about her, that she would unravel right in front of him, she got up. "Rick, you have two children down there and a group of people that we call home. The present is here, stop trying to reach for the past."

As she started to turn and leave, she felt his hands grab hers, stopping her in her tracks.  
"Thank you." Michonne turned around slowly, a smile on her face.  
"It's alright big guy, you know how they say it takes two to tango? Well it takes two to lead."  
He chuckled at her analogy. "You're right, you're always there when I fall, Michonne."

The emotion that wavered across his face at that moment didn't go unnoticed by Michonne.  
Had it been lust? Had it been love or infatuation? Appreciation?  
The list of possibilities was endless and all she could do was let her mouth hang as she scrambled for words to say, to fill up the atmosphere, to make it known something inside her had been woken by the way he had said her name.

His hand came to rest of her hips. "Michonne..."  
"SHE'S GOING TO DO IT! SHE'S GOING TO WALK! I DONE IT! RICK! MICHONNE! EVERYBODY! QUICK!" Daryl's voice echoed in the house, disturbing the delicate atmosphere that was once there.

Rick and Michonne raced each other to the door and down the stairs, just in time to watch Judith take her first steps.


	2. The Final

**The final chapter, because, there isn't much to add, is there?**

"Remember, every night before she falls asleep, whisper to her 'Little Ass Kicker' and she will do the name proud!" Daryl laid a heavy hand on Rick's shoulder and turned to walk towards Carol who was waiting for him at the end of the driveway.  
Rick shook his head in dismay as he closed the door and basked in the ambience, for the house was finally quiet save for the soft sound of Judith's gargles from the living room.

Rick found himself with a feeling in his chest that had been present earlier, that had caused him to sit in the only room he thought was vacant of memories of Lori but those had ended up plaguing him anyway.  
He couldn't describe it. It felt like nothing he had ever felt before. Maybe it felt like forgetting. Or losing a love slowly and seeing in the near distance future that they were almost gone from your memory... and feeling bad about that.

He stood in a daze, eyes glazed over as thoughts took over all his senses.  
The overwhelming feeling of regret and doom dared to captivate him again. He was well aware of it. Rick was aware of how if he focused on it too much, it could take him once again, lead him into making poor decisions and possibly seeing her again.  
Every cell in his body knew he couldn't handle it.

"Hey Constable," Michonne smirked, holding a nearly sleeping Judith in her arms and rocking slightly. "You want to put her to bed?"  
Rick watched her natural maternal instincts. The way her arms snaked around Judith to create a comfortable pseudo bed for her and she rocked ever so gently, to a rhythm that made himself feel tired although around her he felt every atom in his body come alive.  
Michonne's eyebrow raised as she wondered why he was focusing so much on her chest area and watched his cheeks grow a snitching shade of red.

"No, you go along. I'll be up in just a second, these dishes aren't going to sort themselves." Rick gestured towards the dishes that had found themselves all over the living room and shook his head at the mess his family had left.  
"Just put them in the sink, we'll finish 'em later." She started to make her way up the stairs. Watching her hips sway effortlessly as she walked up the stairs made something stir that he hadn't felt in the long time and he consciously decided to not follow orders to put the dishes in the sink.

Rick was well aware of the beauty Michonne held naturally. Even when the anger over took her body and she looked like war itself, she still held something that captivated everyone who's eyes fell upon her. The way her plump lips spread as she smiled made him wonder how long it had been since she kissed someone at times, but the guilt of Lori sometimes bit at his mind and caused him to gulp back the thoughts.  
Sometimes, however, despite the guilt that continuously found itself at the back of his mind, he would imagine how it'd feel to make love to her. To glide his hands over her soft skin and dip into her warmth and hear her moans fill a room for hours on end.

"You keep disappearing in your thoughts today, Rick." Michonne now stood beside the crib that Judith lay in and watched him intently, the moonlight intensifying her stare as it just highlighted her eyes and not much else.  
"It's a lot of stuff... and thangs." He shook his head and brought his hand to the back of his neck to rub an itch that had formed... that always seemed to form in her presence. His hands felt sweaty, a sign of nerves he remembered having whenever he saw Lori walk down the hallway in high school.

"Well," Her voice softened as she gently looked over to Judith. "Make sure your heads in the game, you've got little Judebug here." He heard a tang of something in her voice but decided not to push it.  
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Rick stepped closer, finding a way to close the distance between them, looking at her face now fully illuminated by the moonlight. It was as though the Earth always found a way to show off her beauty, the sun would make her skin glow and the rain would help define her muscles and the moon, the moon's milky glow exaggerated her delicacy.

Michonne heard the tone in his voice and double checked the thoughts running through her head. She was sure he had been talking to Judith, he had to be, not her.  
"You know, I was a lawyer. That means if you ever lie to me, I'll be able to tell." She teased at him, laughing lightly at the look on his face. The hushed tones of their conversation added to the humour as they sounded like two little school kids spreading rumours among each other.  
"You haven't caught me out before." Michonne took note of the way his eyes turned the colour of waves as he stepped to bask himself in the moonlight as well.

Something about the moment made them both well aware of their flaws. Of their shortening breath and shaking hands and weak knees and the guilt that they both knew would arise if they done what their bodies were begging them to do.  
"We should get to them dishes." Michonne patted Rick's hand that rested on the crib, jumping a little bit at the jolt that it sent through her body.

He followed suit, watching her as she walked out of the door and taking in all of her curves.  
As to not look like a dog on a leash, he increased the distance between them by going to check on Carl and being satisfied finally made his way down the stairs.  
Michonne was balancing plates on her two arms and walking slowly, seeming to testing her balance. She had noticed the confused look Rick threw her way, "I was once a waitress too... and I need to test my theory."  
"What theory?" He smiled at her, picking up a plate she had missed. "The theory of if those plates fall, the sleeping child won't wake up?"  
"Very funny. Actually, I wanted to see if here had weakened my zen mode. But..." She had reached the sink. "It hasn't."

Rick walked towards her with the plate and put it into the sink. "You wash, I dry?"  
"You hardly ever get your hands wet, maybe you..." Michonne gulped back the words she was just about to say as she saw Rick raise his eyebrows, daring her to continue. "Yeah, I'll wash."  
For the next twenty minutes, they washed and dried in unison, neither of them wanting to break the ever growing delicious tension that was making its presence known. No longer was it the elephant in the room, it was here, and vicious in its wake.

The last plate was passed almost effortlessly, but the sound of Rick clearing his throat created an image of him between her legs, ready to devour her and teasing her by doing anything before he actually started. She fumbled with it, watching it slip out of her hands and grabbing for it.  
Crash!  
They stood, faces that mirrored each other's look of horror and waited in the silence for a cry or footsteps. Nothing. Their breaths returned, but still short, still full of lust.

"We've got to clean that u-up." She stammered, afraid of the small distance between the two of them. "You get the dustpan and I'll-" Rick pressed a finger on her lips.  
"You'll do what?" He baited her, requesting for her to say something in this moment that would either begin their first steps towards something or keep them in the same position until a moment like this arose once again.

Michonne held her breath in her lungs and felt waves of lust and something more reign her body. She wanted to grab at his face and kiss him softly, whilst grinding against his hardness as he grabbed her ass and moaned into her mouth.  
"You." Michonne answered, taking his finger into her mouth and sucking on it, then letting it go with a pop. She looked at his face, watching the urge to have her right then and there waver on his face but fall as guilt dared to take over.  
Michonne couldn't have that, not now, not when they were so close.  
Taking his hand into her, she pulled it to her waist and kissed him delicately, testing the waters.

Pulling back, she focused her eyes on his closed ones and waited for his to open – to which they didn't. Her heart stammered, threatening to break out of her chest and lay in a frantic frenzy on the floor. What did he want from her? Did he want more?  
She gave him more, gave him kisses all over his face and his shaking hands and took them to her sides, pulling her closer.  
Why wasn't he responding?

"Choose whatever and I'll be with you whatever the choice." She whispered. Michonne was well aware what letting go felt like. How much guilt you felt for having let go of someone you had promised your life to and not holding onto that promise, of feeling okay without them.  
"You..." He said it lightly at first, Michonne only catching it when she read his lips. "You!" He said again, louder, more urgent, more determination in his eyes than she had ever seen before.

He grabbed her hips and put her on the counter, tasting the salt on her neck and admiring the feeling of her legs wrapped around his upper thighs. Michonne moaned his name into his ear between nibbles and grinds against him.  
"Your mine." He whispered to her, cupping her breasts, her ass and finally placing slipping his hands through her trousers and pressing her soft spot over her underwear. "Say it." Rick looked at her, eyes of a man that had nothing to lose but all to give.  
"I'm yours." Rick used his thumb to rub her gently and then pushed her pants to the side. Slowly, he rubbed her with two fingers, the slickness of her wetness over his fingers turning him on even more and making the pre cum in his pants double by the second.

Her shaking body made him want her even more. Urgently he grabbed the back of her neck to make the kiss deeper, to feel her tongue even more and have her moans reach the back of his throat better.  
"Upstairs," She whispered. "Upstairs."  
He couldn't deny that had been what he was thinking the whole time. He grabbed her as she was, legs wrapped around him and a face of pure ecstasy. "Okay." He kissed her. "Okay."

 **A/N: I can't write smut! If I could, you would have gotten more! I hope you liked this :) I'd like to thank everyone who commented. It meant a lot!**


End file.
